1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a material to be recorded supplied for ink-jet recording, using a liquid ink such as a water based ink (one using a dye or a pigment as the coloring material) and an oil based ink, a solid ink in a solid state at an ordinary temperature, supplied for printing after melting and liquefying, or the like. More specifically, it relates to an ink-jet recording sheet having an excellent ink receptivity, with a light resistance and an ozone resistance of a recorded image improved.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, with the rapid development of the information technology (IT) industry, various information processing systems have been developed, and recording methods and apparatus suitable for the recording systems have been developed as well so as to be put into practical use.
Among these recording methods, the ink-jet recording method is used widely not only in the offices but also at home for the capability of recording on various kinds of recording materials, relative inexpensiveness of the hardware (apparatus), compactness, the excellent quietness, or the like.
Moreover, with the recent trend toward the high resolution in the ink-jet printer, the so-called photography-like high image quality recorded material can be obtained. Furthermore, according to the development of the hardware (apparatus), various kinds of recording sheets for ink-jet recording have been developed.
As the characteristics required for the above-mentioned recording sheets for ink-jet recording, in general, (1) quick drying property (large absorbing speed of the ink), (2) appropriate and even ink dot size (absence of blurring), (3) good granule property, (4) high dot roundness, (5) high color density, (6) high chroma (absence of darkness), (7) good water resistance, light resistance and ozone resistance in the printing part, (8) high whiteness in the recording sheet, (9) good recording sheet storage property (absence of yellowish coloring by the long term storage), (10) good size stability without deformation (sufficiently small curling), (11) good hardware running property, or the like can be presented.
Furthermore, as to the application of the photo glossy paper used for obtaining the so-called photography-like high image quality recorded material, in addition to the above-mentioned characteristics, the glossiness, the surface smoothness, the printing paper-like feeling similar to the silver salt photography, or the like are required as well.
For improvement of the above-mentioned various characteristics, recently, an ink-jet recording sheet having a porous structure in a color material accepting layer has been developed. Since the ink-jet recording sheet has the excellent ink receptivity (quick drying property) and a high glossiness.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) Nos. 10-119423 and 10-217601, or the like propose an ink-jet recording sheet comprising a color material accepting layer containing fine inorganic pigment particles and a water soluble resin, and a high void ratio provided on a substrate.
According to these recording sheets, in particular, an ink-jet recording sheet provided with a color material accepting layer using a silica as the inorganic pigment fine particles of a porous structure provides the excellent ink absorbing property, a high in acceptability capable of forming a high resolution image and a high glossiness according to the configuration.
However, a minute amount gas in the air, in particular, the ozone is the cause of fading with age of a recorded image. Since the above-mentioned recording material comprising a color material accepting layer with the porous structure has a large number of voids, the recorded image can easily be faded by the ozone gas in the air. Therefore, for a recording material having a color material accepting layer of the above-mentioned porous structure, the resistance to the ozone in the air (ozone resistance) is an extremely important characteristic.
In order to prevent the above-mentioned fading by the ozone, JP-A No. 2001-260519 proposes an ink-jet recording material containing a sulfinic acid compound, a thiosulfonic acid compound, and a thiosulfinic acid compound. Moreover, the EP 1,138,509 proposes an ink-jet recording material containing a thioether compound having a hydrophilic group. Although these are effective in terms of the ozone resistance, the effect does not last long, and thus a problem is involved in that a sufficient ozone resistance cannot be provided.
Moreover, JP-A No. 7-314882 discloses a recording sheet having a porous ink accepting layer containing at least one compound selected from the group consisting of a dithiocarbamate, a thiuram salt, ester thiocyanates, a thiocyanate, and a hindered amine compound. As specific examples of the above-mentioned hindered amine compound, those having a structure with all the hydrogen on the carbons at the second position and the sixth position of a piperidine substituted by a methyl group are presented. Although the recording sheet has a fading preventing effect for about 30 days in a room can be provided by containing at least one of the above-mentioned compounds a problem is involved in that a sufficiently long term ozone resistance cannot be provided.